1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a capsule endoscope system, a method of operating an image display, and a computer-readable recording medium which display images acquired by a capsule endoscope introduced into a subject.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in the field of endoscopes, a swallow-type capsule endoscope has been developed. The capsule endoscope is introduced into the body of the subject (patient) from the mouth and sequentially captures the images of the lumens (alimentary canals), such as the esophagus, the stomach, the small intestine, and the large intestine, while is being moved in the lumens by the peristaltic motion until it is naturally eliminated from the subject. Image data generated from the image captured by the capsule endoscope is sequentially transmitted by wireless communication, is received by a receiving device which is provided outside the subject, and is then stored in a memory which is provided in the receiving device. The image data is transmitted to an image display after examination ends, predetermined image processing is performed on the image data, and the processed image data is displayed as an in-vivo image on a display. The user (for example, a doctor) observes the in-vivo image displayed on the display, finds an abnormality, and specifies the position (organ) of the abnormality in the subject. This process is referred to as observation.
As the capsule endoscope, the followings have been developed: a monocular capsule endoscope in which an imaging unit including an imaging element and an illumination element is provided on one side of a capsule in the longitudinal direction; and a pantoscopic (binocular) capsule endoscope in which imaging units are provided on both sides of a (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2009-89910, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-282794, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-288869, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2010-17555). The pantoscopic capsule endoscope can capture images on the front and rear sides of the capsule in the longitudinal direction.